Title: Legitimacy dynamics: rights, norms and local cultural imperatives – government and the recognition of individual creation in the PRC's IP law

Authors: Wenwei Guan

Addresses: School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Abstract: This paper examines the dynamic intersection of rights, norms and cultural imperatives during the evolution of the Intellectual Property (IP) regime of the People|s Republic of China (PRC). It reveals that, from the evolving recognition of individual intellectual endeavours to the enforcement system of ex officio action, the PRC has always been caught between adaptation to individual-oriented international IP norms and loyalty to local collective-oriented cultural imperatives. This paper invites us to think of the question of legitimacy when local imperatives challenge foreign norms during the evolution of law, and argues that it is the dynamics between private rights, international norms and local cultural imperatives that provide a driving force for the development of law, through which process both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the PRC|s IP regime evolve and legitimacy is attained.

Keywords: intellectual property; individual creations; individual-oriented; collective-oriented; local cultural imperatives; China; World Trade Organization; WTO; rights; enforcement systems; ex officio actions; legitimacy; foreign norms; private rights; international norms; legal developments; collectivism; individualism; private law.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPL.2010.033410

International Journal of Private Law, 2010 Vol.3 No.3, pp.300 - 316

Published online: 02 Jun 2010 *

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